While the design and color and music choices were striking throughout Tokyo Drifter, there were two camera shots that struck me as hugely inventive. One was at the 13:35 timestamp, right after we see Viper Tatsuso intimidate Chiharu. There is a shot of the traffic, with the camera held level, and the traffic moving across the frame horizontally. Then the camera tilts to the left, and pans to the right until it catches another car in the frame. As it follows that car back around to the left, the tilt that it had previously made leads it to line up square with the car as it parks below the viewer. The way the camera moved was initially so surprising, but then lined up exactly with where the shot was ending.
The other shot, which I'm sure everybody else noticed, was when Mutsuko was shot and you see her from above crumple onto the floor. This was such an inventive shot, but in this case, I wonder if it served to alienate the viewer somewhat. The cut is from Kurata, Tetsu's boss, seeing that Mutsuko is shot, to this shot from above. I was expecting a 180 degree cut, but then the camera abruptly shot up into the ceiling, disconnecting the viewer from Kurata's reaction.

My problem with Tokyo Drifter was less its lack of narrative than its lack of characterization. Those other movies you mention, Drive, Mad Max Fury Road, have very transparent, expressive, and relatable characters, which I did not find to be the case in Tokyo Drifter. The filming matches the drama of the narrative and helps us connect with the characters.. Tokyo Drifter, on the other hand, felt like a mismatch between those elements.

I think I agree, but not really in a positive way. In finishing the movie I thought to myself, "Wow, I loved the look of that movie and its music." But throughout the film I struggled to connect at all with the protagonist. I do plan to view it again in the next week or so to give it another shot. I struggled throughout to keep several of the secondary characters straight, and that might have been a bit of a distraction.

I think you're way overthinking it. I assumed that what happened was that she went out and had sex with the guys on the boat and came home, which bought her a few days (at the cost of being quite traumatic for her -- the scene where she is on the way home she looks just totally broken). Whoever she was with first became infected, and even if he passed it on, none of them knew about the "curse" and so wouldn't be prepared and were easy prey. So the "thing" just worked its way back down the line back to J
I don't think there was an implication that they lived out on the water or anything. They were just out for a fishing trip.
I loved the movie, including the soundtrack. But I think my favorite technical aspect may have been the cinematography. Super-slow circular pans, lots of zoomed in "voyeur" establishing shots. Very effective in building the paranoia the that the film depended on.

Veronica Marrs, Gilmore Girls, and Freaks and Geeks are all great (a bit older) shows that are great for teens and parents. Daredevil might be a bit violent depending on one's standards, but otherwise I think works...